


Communiction

by katiebuttercup



Category: Charmed
Genre: Gen, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-24 01:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4900129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiebuttercup/pseuds/katiebuttercup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set just before a knight to remember </p><p>Phoebe phones Paige and realises something</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: characters don't belong to me

Phoebe twists the phone chord around her fingers, she hasn't been this nervous phoning someone since her first crush in junior high. She can't remember his name but she remembers the feeling. 

"Hello, Paige Matthews speaking"

Phoebe takes a moment to drink in the sound of her sisters voice. It still floors Phoebe that she has a sister. She can still hear Prue's voice in the back of her mind. It terrifies her that one day she may not remember the timbre of her oldest sisters voice. Piper's voice is like a lullaby, warm and all encompassing. She could pick Piper's voice out of a crowd of hundreds. 

But Paige's voice is new, a current of electricity that shocks Phoebe awake like nothing else has since Prue died.

"Hey Paige. It's me. Phoebe." 

"Oh god has the shocker demon attacked do you need me to come over....?"

It takes Phoebe a moment to catch up with her sister's jumbled narrative.

"No, the demon hasn't attacked us"

There is a pause on the other end of the phone then, "So if the demon hasn't attacked why are you ringing me?'

It takes all of Phoebe's willpower not to blurt out "because your my sister" 

And then it hits her. 

In the few weeks since Prue's funeral and the subsequence knowledge of Paige as a sister witch, they haven't actually talked outside of business. The last time Phoebe had been so estranged from one of her sisters was when Prue has wrongly suspected her of sleeping with Roger. But the craft had brought them more than just powers it had brought them the bond Phoebe had always wanted with Prue. 

Had she really not spoken to Paige as a sister? 

She struggles to remember conversations but it all blurs.

"I just wanted to call and ask if you wanted to hang out sometime here at the manor maybe..."

Paige makes a disbelieving sound down the receiver, "you don't have to dress it up if you need me for demon hunting just say." 

"No! No demons just you and me and a goofy movie. Just some quality sis...girl time" 

Paige hums thoughtfully, when she speaks it's carefully and measured, "that'd be nice" but Phoebe hopes she can hear eagerness.

"Great!" Phoebe says quickly before Paige can back out, "Piper will be at the club so it'll just be us"

"How is Piper?" Paige asks and the concern is clear now. Phoebe feels a rush of love for her little sister. Piper and Paige had a long way to go but Paige kept reaching out and one day Piper would reach back. 

It had taken her a long time to reconcile with Prue but it had been worth it.

"Better- most days like all of us-it's a work in progress"

"I get that," Paige says feelingly. Phoebe remembers fleetingly that Paige's patents were dead although she hadn't elaborated very much.

"So how about eight tonight?" 

"Eight sounds great" Paige said. 

Phoebe put the phone down. Suddenly feeling better then she had in days. She made a mental note to make sure to contact Paige more regularly. 

After all they weren't simply witches 

They were sisters.


	2. Excuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paige "runs" into Piper

As soon as the clock hits noon Paige picks up her purse and heads out into the San Fransisco sunshine. The day had seemed never ending and Mr Cowell seemed to find a new task for her every time she tried to come up for air. 

She blinked as she put her key unto the lock of her car door. Over the road a dark haired woman seemed to be checking her phone. Paige's heart jumped into her throat as hope burst through the firewalls she had created since her parents death. 

Piper. 

Piper had come to see her. 

Just as quickly, the hope vanished as if she had orbed the power away. Phoebe seemed to want to reach out but she was still grieving Prue's death and Paige couldn't help but feel that Phoeve felt obligated to look out for her since she was still getting to grips with her powers and because Piper couldn't seem to even look at her. 

She wished she had known about her powers when she was a teenager. She would have used it to save her parents. 

'Okay time to be the bigger person,' Paige counselled herself as she stepped off the kerb to intercept her oldest sister. Approaching Piper sometimes felt like approaching a demon. She was fairly certain that Piper didn't like her and was a hairs breath away from blowing her up. 

She wondered if she reminded her of Prue in any way.

She was a reminder of what she had so recently lost. Paige totally got that. For weeks after her parents death she couldn't bear to see anything that reminded her of them. The pain had been excruciating and all she wanted to do was hide under the covers and scream. 

It hadn't helped that she hadn't been the ideal daugher. 

If she could take that day and rewind she would. 

"Hey, Piper" Paige said carefully as she approached her estranged sister. She could see reflections of her in Piper's face, but really, she was as much of a stranger to Paige as anyone else walking along the street. 

"I was in the neighbourhood," Piper said, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. 

Paige nodded, as if that was the perfect seagueway. 

"Cool!" Paige said, shifting her weight, feeling awkward. She pulled a lollipop from her bag and popped it into her mouth. 

"You shouldn't eat those--" Piper scolded then stopped. Paige wondered if she used that tone with Phoebe. She hoped so. 

"That isn't the only thing you're going to eat?" Piper said, eyeing the lollipop with distaste. 

"I have a sandwich," Paige assured her. 

It was Piper's turn to shuffle. "So---did you have a nice night with Phoebes?"

Paige was taken aback, she hadn't realised that Phoebe had told Piper about their little get together the other night. 

"Uh yeah, Phoebe's really cool"

"Hm"

Paige couldn't tell anything from her tone. 

"So since you had a movie night with Phoebes maybe you and I could hang out sometime--have lunch"

"Oh! I have to get straight back to the office" Paige said, dismayed. She didn't want Piper to change her mind and close the door in her face.

"No, that's okay, uh I can give you my cell and we can meet up next week"

The hope was back full force. Paige couldn't keep the smile from her face if she tried. 

"Yes! Great I'd love that"

Piper's mouth creased into a half smile at Paige's enthusiasm, "okay then" she handed the younger woman a card which Paige handled with reverence. 

"See you next week"

"Bye"


	3. Who do you think you are?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phoebe probes a bit too deep

Phoebe glances around the tiny apartment, it's similar to the one she had back in New York. She winces at the memory, she doesn't particularly like the person she had been. She didn't regret searching for their dad but she did regret the way she left. 

Sometimes she wondered if Piper had ever forgiven her for simply walking out after Gram's funeral. 

She was pretty sure Prue never had. 

But Phoebe didn't want to have regrets with Paige-she'd been robbed of twenty years of Paige's life, she was determined to catch up. 

"So you're a social worker?" Phoebe shouted at the closed bathroom door-Paige was getting ready for dinner at the Halliwell's the first family dinner together. 

"Not yet!" Paige shouted back, "more of a glorified assistant, but I'm a hard worker I'll get there eventually," 

It seemed that Paige was using her early twenties much more responsibly the Phorbe ever had. A photo on the nightstand drew her attention and letting her curiosity get the better of her Phoebe picks it up. The frame was much nicer then the others in the apartment, heavier and well polished. Paige obviously took great care with it. Phoebe stares into the photo at the smiling couple. 

Suddenly the frame disappeared into bright lights leaving Phobe clutching at thin air. On instant she turned, seeing Paige clasp the picture tightly to her chest. 

"Sorry I didn't mean to snatch it's just instinct...I..."

Phoebe holds up a placating hand, "it's okay, I shouldn't have touched it without asking you first,"

Paige nods, but tears glimmer at the sides of her eyes, she looks like a lost child and Phoebe aches to give her a hug. 

She doesn't. They aren't there yet. 

"Are they...you're adoptive parents?"

Paige nods, she rushes past Phoebe to put the picture back on the nightstand, her hand lovingly pressed against the frame. She swallows hard. 

"Yes," 

"Are they..." 

"They died. Freak car accident." Paige bites out. Phoebe glances at the couple, memorising their faces. They are family too. She wonders what kind of people raised a daughter abandoned at a church with no instructions. Good people, phoebe decides, she would have liked to meet them, to thank them.

"Is this okay to wear?" Paige asks, obviously trying to steer the conversation away from a clearly difficult subject. Phoebe allows it. She's still learning where she's allowed to push. Growing up with Piper and Prue it had always been clear but with Paige they are family only by blood not history. 

"You look great, honestly it's no big deal, You're having dinner with me and Piper not the president."

"I want to make a good impression," Paige says, fleetingly Phoebe thinks of all the ways she had tried to impress Prue. 

Being a little sister sucked. 

"As long as you come with an empty stomach and leave with a full one you'll be fine" Phoebe assures her. Paige grins, a real grin. 

"That I can do,"

 

*****

When Paige finally moves in 

"Are you all unpacked?" Phoebe asks as Paige settles on the couch beside her. 

"Yep. Looks like I'm here to stay," 

Phoebe squeezes her arm, "great," 

Paige's eye drifts over the mantlepeice stopping at a photo of the oldest Halliwell sisters, and then to the silver frame she loved so much. 

"My picture..." Paige was out of her seat without knowing she had moved. Her most prized possession settled between Halliwell family photos as if it had been always there. 

"I hope you don't mind," Piper's voice came from behind them, "I saw it in one of the boxes and I thought it fit nicely there. So everyone could see it"

"But...but why would you want a picture of my parents?"

"They are part of you as much as Mom and Sam. They raised you, they belong there, part of our family. Y'know if you want."

It was the best thing Piper could have said. Phoebe blinked back tears as Paige lept up, hugging her fiercely.

"Thank you,"

Piper rubbed crircles across Paige's back as she had done for Prue and Phoebe. Like a sister. 

"No problem, sweetie"

Phoebe glances at the photo, Paige's parents seem to be smiling brighter.


End file.
